Rudd and dace share a fate: most anglers catch them by accident while fishing for something else, and almost nobody sets out for them. That is a shame, because a big rudd is one of the most beautiful fish in Britain and a net of quality dace is a proper test of float control.
They also need opposite approaches, which is why I have put them together.
Rudd: fish up
Rudd feed at or near the surface far more than roach do, and this single fact should shape everything.
Bread is the best rudd bait there is. A small piece of flake fished shallow, or floating crust for bigger fish on a still summer evening, is the classic approach. Rudd will rise to take bread off the top with confidence in a way few other coarse fish do.
Maggots and casters both work well fished shallow, on the drop, with the shot well up the line so the bait falls slowly. The take usually comes as it sinks. If you are fishing maggots on the bottom for rudd, you are fishing for roach and will catch them instead.
Feed lightly and constantly, a few grubs at a time, to keep fish up in the water. Heavy feeding drives them down.
For big rudd specifically, evening is the time and a quiet approach matters. They spook badly in clear shallow water.
Dace: fish fast
Dace are river fish that live in faster, shallower water than most coarse species and feed at speed. Everything about the approach is about keeping up with them.
Maggots are the bait, and a single maggot on a fine hook trotted through a fast run is the method. Casters work and select for slightly better fish, which on a species where a ten ounce fish is a specimen is worth doing.
Hemp and a caster works here too, as it does for roach.
The difficulty with dace is not bait, it is striking. They take and eject a bait faster than almost any other coarse fish, and anglers used to roach fishing miss bite after bite and conclude the fish are not there. Strike earlier than feels sensible. If you are hitting one bite in four, strike sooner still.
Our trotting guide is the relevant technique piece, and it matters more for dace than the bait does.
Tackle for both
Fine. Hooks in the 18 to 22 range, light hooklengths, small floats. Both species have small mouths and neither needs pulling out of heavy cover.
A light float rod and a centrepin or a small fixed spool are the tools, and our floats guide covers choosing the right pattern for a fast run versus a still summer margin.
Why bother
Because both are genuinely enjoyable and neither is under pressure. Nobody is queuing for the dace swim.
Rudd in particular are worth seeking out. A two pound rudd is a rare and spectacular fish, and the waters that hold them are usually quiet estate lakes and drains that see very little angling attention.
Dan Whitfield started fishing aged seven on the canal at the end of his road and never really stopped. He spent his twenties and thirties on the match circuit – club level rather than national – before deciding he’d rather catch one decent fish than a net of small ones.
These days he mostly fishes the River Trent for barbel (personal best 14lb 2oz), the Oxford Canal for roach and skimmers in winter, and the occasional gravel pit when tench are spawning and the surface fishing is too good to miss. He’s a former club secretary and still helps with junior coaching at his local angling club in Nottingham.
At The River Bend, Dan writes the coarse species guides, river fishing technique articles, and the match and pole content.
Covers: Barbel, bream, roach, tench, carp (coarse context), river fishing, canal fishing, feeder, float, match/pole